Windows 8.1 enables you to view all your apps by clicking the down arrow below the left-side group of app tiles. Although it was possible to see all your apps in Windows 8, doing so was cumbersome. Windows[more…]

Windows 8.1 organizes the apps into a number of different groups. These groups vary according to the sort order that you’ve selected. To view app groups rather than the individual apps, click or pinch[more…]

You can move, resize, overlap, and switch between desktop application windows in Windows 8.1 just as you could in earlier versions of Windows. From the earliest versions of Windows, users have been able[more…]

If you’ve used any previous version of Windows (prior to Windows 8.1), you’re no doubt well aware of how to open more than one Windows desktop application at a time. Opening multiple Windows Store apps[more…]

With the arrival of Windows 8.1, Microsoft has introduced a new Windows Store that’s far easier to use. The Windows Store is the place to find a new breed of Windows programs that are commonly called apps[more…]

Windows 8.1 has improved the Windows Store. The Windows 8 Store provided users with a whole new experience, but using that version of the Store could be frustrating because there was no way to actually[more…]

Whereas the Windows 8 Music app wasn’t much more than an online storefront for buying music, the much-improved Music app in Windows 8.1 puts your own music up front. When first opened, the program opens[more…]

Windows 8.1’s sharing goes way beyond the old cut and paste. In older versions of Windows, and the desktop of the current version of Windows, you can copy the web address of a site and paste it into, say[more…]

You can share a photo through e-mail by using the Windows 8.1 Metro Photos app. As usual, you start on the the Start screen (press the Windows key on the keyboard or the Windows button on your tablet).[more…]

Don’t confuse the Windows Store — which hooks directly into the tiled Metro part of Windows — with the Microsoft Store, which has both Internet and meat-space manifestations. Moving around in the Windows[more…]

In the Windows Store app in Windows 8.1, you can adjust a limited number of settings for your accounts and preferences. To make these adjustments, begin by tapping or clicking the Windows Store app from[more…]

Microsoft insists that there’s just one Internet Explorer in Windows 8.1, but it has two faces — a traditional interface, similar to the one you’ve probably seen many times before; and a tiled Metro-style[more…]

Flip Ahead is an Internet Explorer option that works in the Windows 8.1 Metro IE and the desktop version. It’s designed primarily to give you a consistent way to flip ahead in websites with multiple[more…]

When you click the Internet Explorer tile on the Windows 8.1 Start screen, Metro Internet Explorer usually appears without any navigational aids. But a swipe from the top or bottom, or a right-click just[more…]

Metro Mail in Windows 8.1 has its benefits, but it may not best suit your needs. Complicating the situation: Metro Mail isn’t an either/or choice. For example, you can set up Hotmail/Outlook.com or Gmail[more…]

If you signed in to Windows 8.1 or the Mail app with a Microsoft account that’s also a Hotmail/Outlook.com ID, Mail reaches out to your Hotmail/Outlook.com account and pulls the last two weeks’ worth of[more…]

The Windows 8.1 Metro Mail app has built-in smarts for you to connect to any Hotmail/Outlook.com, Gmail, Exchange Server (including Office 365 business edition), AOL, Yahoo!, or IMAP accounts. You can[more…]

If you set up Windows 8.1 Metro Mail with a Hotmail/Outlook.com, Gmail, or Exchange Server account, all the contacts belonging to that account have already been imported into Metro People. If you set up[more…]

Adding a new contact in Windows 8.1's Metro People app isn’t difficult, if you can keep in mind one oddity: You add accounts via the Charm bar’s Settings charm, on the right side of the screen, but to[more…]